Good day. We're kicking off today's newsletter with a quick news roundup.

After getting burned in this year's selloff, biotech stocks are now on the up and up. Friday's downturn aside, what could this mean for the legions of biotech venture-capitalists out there closely watching the sector?

Britishvolt, a battery startup at the center of the U.K.'s electric vehicle efforts, is lowering its targeted valuation by about a fifth and its founder is stepping down. Read on for exclusive insights from The Wall Street Journal. 

And now on to the news ...

Biotech turnaround. Biotech stocks, some of the biggest losers in the selloff, are soaring, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• The speculative sector is getting a boost from renewed optimism among investors. Fundamental drivers such as deal-making, new drug approvals and buying by big investors provide confidence that the rally could persist.
   
• All kinds of risky stocks have been soaring lately as investors become less concerned about a series of aggressive interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve. A rise in interest rates can hurt biotech and other shares with little current earnings but hopes for lots of profits down the road, because higher rates reduce the value of future earnings.

A battery startup at the center of U.K. efforts to develop an electric-vehicle industry is lowering its targeted valuation by about a fifth and its founder is stepping down, according to people familiar with the matter, WSJ reports. Backed by mining giant Glencore PLC, Power by Britishvolt Ltd., commonly known as Britishvolt, is seeking to raise £200 million in a deal that would value the company at up to £1.5 billion, the people said. That would exceed its valuation of around £800 million achieved last year from a previous fundraising, but falls short of the initial £1.9 billion target, the people said.

In a working paper, researchers from Harvard University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology measured the exchange of ideas that occurred between tech startups located near each other at one of the largest technology co-working spaces in the U.S., WSJ reports. They found that “knowledge spillovers” were greatest between dissimilar startups that worked within 20 meters (22 yards) of each other. Working in such close range allowed for socialization, which in turn led to idea sharing about the types of technology the startups were using as part of their overall tech infrastructure, the researchers found.

The 29-year-old man got the amphetamine through a telemedicine startup where some clinicians felt pressure to prescribe the drug

Funds

Cherubic Ventures closed its fifth fund with $110 million in commitments, bringing the firm’s total amount of capital under management to $400 million. Portfolio companies include Hims & Hers, Calm, Flexport, 91APP, Paidy and Tezign.

European climate tech investor Contrarian Ventures launched its second fund, which is targeting €100 million. The Lithuania-based firm’s portfolio includes light electric vehicles platform Zoomo, novel hydrogen electrolysis technology developer H2Pro and utility-scale solar software startup PVCase.

People

Blockchain technology investor Blockchain Capital appointed Tony Schmidt as chief operating officer and operating partner. He was previously a controller of finance and operations at Spectrum Equity.

Consumer-focused Victress Capital promoted Yuriy Dovzhansky to principal. Prior to joining the firm, he spent time at DNA Capital and SWAT Equity Partners.

Mountainview, Calif.-based startup Udacity Inc., a digital talent platform, said it promoted three people. Ayah Shashaa was promoted to chief strategy and business operations officer; Samuel Schofield as chief revenue officer; and Derrick Alesevich as chief legal and administrative officer. This follows the recent appointment of Sarah Reynolds as chief marketing officer.

Denver-based startup Pie Insurance Services Inc., an insurtech company, appointed two executives to its leadership team. Ekta Aggarwal joins the company as chief product officer and Erin Mesick joins as vice president of finance.

Stord Inc., an Atlanta-based cloud supply chain startup, said it appointed its first president and chief commercial officer, Tom Barone.

Bravo Sierra, a New York-based men’s personal care brand, raised $17 million in Series B funding. Lead investor The Merchant Club was joined by Capstar Ventures, Redo Ventures, AF Ventures and Mousse Partners in the round. L’Occitane Group’s Nicolas Geiger joined the board.

Grin Technology Services, Inc., which does business as Flossy, a Los Angeles-based dental care startup, landed $14.7 million in Series A funding. TTV Capital led the investment, which included contributions from Slow Ventures, 8VC, Clocktower Technology Ventures and SV Angel.

Motivo Health, an Atlanta-based marketplace connecting mental health therapists with clinical supervisors online, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Cox Enterprises led the round, which included participation from SteelSky Ventures and Great Oaks Venture Capital.

SynSaber Inc., a Chandler, Ariz.-based industrial asset and network monitoring provider, secured $13 million in Series A financing. Lead investor SYN Ventures was joined by Rally Ventures and Cyber Mentor Fund in the round.

Mobot Inc., a New York City-based publicly launched its QA-as-a-service startup, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding from Cota Capital, with participation from Heavybit, Uncorrelated Ventures, and others.

Paubox Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of HIPAA-compliant email and marketing solutions for healthcare organizations, said it raised $10 million in funding from Arthur Ventures.

dWallet Labs, an Israel-based cybersecurity company specializing in blockchain technology, raised $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Node Capital and Digital Currency Group, and joined by Amplify Partners, Lightshift Capital, Liquid2 Ventures, Collider Ventures, Lemnsicap, Heroic Ventures, Impatient Ventures, Zero Knowledge, Dispersion Capital, Token Bay Capital, Tykhe Block Ventures, Cerulean Ventures and Earl Grey Capital alongside founders and angel investors from Coinbase, Ethereum, Celo, AngelList, Alt, Spearhead and others.

PushPress, Inc., a Claymont, Del.-based fitness studio management software company, raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Altos Ventures, with participation from Mucker Capital.

Perform, a San Francisco-based digital fitness startup, raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding led by defy.vc, with participation from Techstars, the chief product officer of Calm, the former chief product officer of Uber, the co-founder of Fitbod, and other technology executives.

• Federal regulators seek answers about Tesla’s autopilot
   
• Tesla seeks Chinese government support for its suppliers amid power cuts
   
• Rivian drops cheapest versions of its electric truck and SUV models
   
• Roblox poaches seasoned Meta executive as it chases growth in Asia
   
• Grubhub’s owner begins a necessary slim down

This newsletter was compiled by Marc Vartabedian and Zachary Cole.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley, Angus Loten and Marc Vartabedian.

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